1. The conversations should be short (no longer than 4 minutes on a given topic)
2. The conversations need to be real-life and authentic, just as if they were spoken by native speakers
3. You should be able to read the conversation you hear so that you can become familiar with it before listening
3. You need to listen to the same conversation as often as possible, over and over again until you feel confident that you know it well
4. You can add conversation after conversation on topics you enjoy

You should begin to see results after one week and amazing results after one month if you are consistent.
The best time to listen is when you wake up and just before you go to sleep.

You can walk around with conversations playing through your earphones all day if you want! If you want to try it, I can send you MP3′s and the written conversations (transcripts) to try.

Contact me now to receive free audios and conversations.

I then learned German at University because my sister did it at school and got good results and there was a German student called Hans in the student halls who I practiced everyday with. It was good fun as he taught me some really complex sentence patterns that made my lecturer fall off his seat from amazement!

I then learned Japanese before I went to Japan at night school but I thought the teaching was not very good and I didn’t seem to learn much. I really learned Japanese when I went to the country and HAD to use it to live! I was really motivated then and also paid for private lessons with a university student to accelerate my language.

When I returned 6 years later, I learned Maori at a University in Wellington because I needed it for my job.
So why learn a language? There are many reasons but for me, I had to be able to use it in a practical way or I really couldn’t see the sense of spending all that time studying it. What’s your reason?

It’s a good idea to keep up to date with the latest developments and strategies and while you can access some of this information online, there is nothing like getting it live as speakers tend to give way more to a receptive audience especially when they are so passionate about their area of expertise (and that’s why speaking to live native speakers of English is the best way to learn English!).

Now what I love about these guys is they walk the talk – they only recommend things that they have successfully done themselves and have impressive property portfolios and experience to prove it. If you want to really accelerate, you need to learn from the best and the best in my eyes are people who practice what they teach. Outstanding teachers are always learning and passing on what they know to others…they don’t stop and say I know it all, they don’t keep doing the same thing in a changing environment…they don’t give up when they make mistakes…they have a can do attitude, they try different strategies and learn from applying these strategies to get maximum value for themselves and others. Awesome work Phil and Steve – go check out their website and keep learning in your area of passion.

Describe a famous person that you admire. You should say who the person is, what they are famous for and why you admire them. I also made some suggestions about note taking and gave an example of what you could quickly write down in the one minute that you are given to prepare.

Here is a short sample answer (remember you need to speak for 1 – 2 minutes without stopping).

Someone famous that I really admire is Barak Obama…the President of the United States. He seems to be a real family man and his wife, Michelle is quite a role model too – she’s a lawyer so she must be quite a good communicator and fast thinker. I think that because he has two children and a happy looking family, that he comes across as quite a down to earth man – I mean it’s interesting that he comes from a working class background, he wasn’t rich or pampered. Actually he had to work his way to the top, probably against racial barriers and adversity but it just goes to show, that you can achieve whatever you want if you have the determination. It kind of brings the American dream alive I guess but it reminds me of how focused and hrd working my father is. Anyway, Obama is obviously a high achiever as he worked his way through College earning scholarships, graduating as a lawyer in Civil Rights I think and then moving into politics. So being the first black President in the USA is quite an achievement if you consider how segregation was still quite prevalent in the mid 1900′s…it’s a big change for American society but probably reflects the move from a mono-cultural society to a richer one of diversity. I think it would mean that he would be more empathetic to minorities and understand their struggles as he’s experienced struggle for himself. He really did achieve something against the odds and is one of a kind.
You know I even remember when I found out he’d been elected cause my phone went crazy and I received a lot of texts announcing the news. I was on a train at the time, passing through Akihabara and I think a lot of other people seemed to know too as I could hear people talking about it. I must say, I was quite surprised as I hadn’t been keeping up with American news…I’m more interested in politics in my own country!

Ok so there’s a sample for you. If you keep practicing the same question, you can try different ways of answering it and gaining more confidence in the topic. You can then try the same question with a range of different people that you admire such as your parents, friends, actors, actresses, sports people and so on.

In the next blog, we will look at Part 3 of the IELTS speaking test!

My dream is to make spoken English widely available and accessible from anywhere in the world by providing live online English with native speakers of English!

Speaking English is the same thing. You need to practice speaking it, hearing the sounds, saying the sounds and trying different words and sentences. Reading about English and writing in English will not make you a good speaker – you have to practice actually speaking.

If you can’t speak to someone and practice, then the next best thing is to speak aloud so that you can practice pronunciation of words and sounds, increase your fluency and confidence to speak naturally. Listening to audios and videos by native speakers is ideal as you can practice copying what they say. Do this everyday and you will definitely get better!

Practise natural english with your own personal conversation coach.

1. Learn a short joke in English, practice it and say it to your Samespeak coach online (and ask them to tell you one back!)

2. Watch a comedy in English, select a line that makes you laugh, practice it and say it to your friends

3.  Record a line in English on your phone and use it as your ringer such as “Hi Rowan, what’s up” and watch your friends reaction

Laugh at your mistakes!

1. Select a passage or monologue from an MP3 or movie (you can easily download free ones from the IELTS free link on samespeak.com ) or scroll down and try the conversation from the Pretty Movie woman on this blog

2. Download a free audio programme like Audacity or simply record onto your phone.

3. Compare your recording to the recording done by the native speaker of English by checking these areas:

- do you sound natural?

- is your pronunciation natural sounding?

- how about the speed and pace…does it sound similar to the native speaker?

This is a quick fun way to get used to your own voice and something you can do by yourself to practice natural conversational English.

1. Find a friend who is interested in speaking English and is the same level as you

2. Find something interesting to talk about that you can look at and refer to – a movie, an online newspaper, a discussion topic (if you are both Samespeak students you can practice off a lesson from the activities box)

3. Don’t try and correct each other. You are wanting to practice speaking fluently so it is important that you just say what you are thinking and not worry about making mistakes.

4. Listen to your friend and let them know if you understand what they are saying “I see, I understand, please keep talking”…

5. Keep the sessions short and frequent. A 15 minute session each day will give you better results than 1 hour a week.

Let me know how it goes!